The Way of the Gods

That’s Shinto — the way (“to”) of the kami (“shin”). As to the kami — who might they be?
“I do not yet understand the meaning of the word ‘kami'” wrote Motoori Norinaga in 1771. If he didn’t, who did? Norinaga was the foremost scholar of his age; he devoted his life to studying the native literature from its ancient beginnings. "In ancient usage, anything whatsoever that was outside the ordinary, which possessed superior power or which was awe-inspiring, was called kami."

Shinto teaches nothing, enjoins nothing, demands no submission, works no miracles, effaces evil by cleansing it, transmutes dread into joy. There is no heaven, no hell, no nirvana — just “the rising sun each morning,” “the coming of the kami.”

P.S.: I wonder why the much more advanced, elaborated, intellectually satisfying religion of Christianity did not catch up in Japan. Christianity was adopted almost instantly by NorthWest European pagans, had a good start in China (see Memorial Tablet in the tomb of Matteo Ricci in Beijing), but it never became the state religion.